Angels trade Chatwood for catcher Iannetta

Chris Iannetta hit .238 with 14 home runs and 55 RBIs with the Colorado Rockies last season. The 28-year-old played in 112 games and struck out 89 times with 70 walks. BRIAN MAHONEY, AP

Angels GM Jerry Dipoto "feels like we checked two boxes" on the team's offseason "to-do" list Wednesday by acquiring catcher Chris Iannetta from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for right-hander Tyler Chatwood.

In his first player move as the team's new general manager, Dipoto sought to address both the Angels' need for higher on-base percentage and their issues at catcher where the combination of Jeff Mathis, Bobby Wilson and Hank Conger offered nothing offensively in 2011.

Iannetta's career on-base percentage of .357 (including highs of .370 in 2011 and .390 in 2008, the only two seasons in which he played more than 100 games) was "a motivating factor" in the deal, Dipoto said. Iannetta has also shown power, reaching double digits in home runs three times, including 14 last season.

While the Angels chose Iannetta's OBP proficiency over more of Mathis' offensive deficiencies, the catcher became expendable in Colorado when the Rockies opted to sign free agent catcher Ramon Hernandez to a two-year, $6.4 million contract as a bridge while young catcher Wilin Rosario develops.

"I'm really excited about the opportunity," Iannetta said, citing the chance to "learn and develop even more" under a former All-Star catcher, Angels manager Mike Scioscia, as a plus for him in the trade.

"I work as hard as I possibly can on my defense and my offense. ... I'm going to continue to work on it regardless of what stage in my career I'm at."

The acquisition of Iannetta seems to end Mathis' troubled tenure as the Angels' primary catcher. Defensively adept but offensively inept, the career .194 hitter is eligible for salary arbitration and Mathis could become a free agent if the Angels elect not to tender him a contract by the Dec. 12 deadline.

The trade also muddies the future of 23-year-old Hank Conger. The former first-round pick spent the fall working on his defensive skills in the Arizona Fall League after batting .209 and failing to satisfy Scioscia's defensive demands in 59 games with the Angels this season. He could be ticketed for another season in Triple-A or used as a trade chip.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Dipoto said when asked about Mathis' future with the team.

"Right now, we've got four major-league catchers on our roster and, like with pitching, I don't know if you can ever have too much depth at catcher. It has become a commodity."

In order to acquire that commodity, Dipoto had to give up another in the 21-year-old Chatwood. Despite having thrown barely 300 innings in his minor-league career before 2011, Chatwood spent much of the season as the Angels' fifth starting pitcher. He went 6-11 with a 4.75 ERA.

Most telling, he struggled with his control, walking (71) nearly as many as he struck out (74) in 142 innings – a difficulty that ran counter to Dipoto's professed belief that teams who "control counts control the game."

"It's not easy to trade away a young pitcher like Tyler Chatwood," Dipoto said. "You have to give to get, and catching is particularly tough to come by. If you've got (Jered) Weaver, (Dan) Haren, (Ervin) Santana, (Jerome) Williams and (Garrett) Richards, you're not going into it empty-handed.

"Experienced major-league catching, a guy that's in the top half of offensive performers from behind the plate, is tough to walk away from. ... It (the trade) is a little more reflective of how difficult it is to find a major-league catcher with Chris' ability than it is of Tyler's development."

But the trade of Chatwood does leave the Angels even shorter in an area Dipoto has targeted this offseason – starting pitching depth.

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